Annie adores

This Cuba trip has been an amazing experience. It was my first time in the Caribbean and I pretty much packed everything to try and be prepared for anything that can happen. The time we went was apparently during the dry season so there was very little rain. However, it still rained for 2 days (tropical rainstorms that lasts for 15 mins to 2 hours), which was better than what the weather forecast told us, which was raining for 5 days out of our 7 day trip. In general, it was sunny for most part of the trip with Daniel having to find shade because he might turn crispy trololol. Therefore, sunscreen was a must for us and even with mounds of sunscreen I still got pretty tanned and a sun burn on one of my shoulder.

Varadero

Varadero is an amazing city and the people there are amazingly friendly. This is definitely a tourist town as it is located by a beautiful beach running 10km. There are over 60 resorts in the Varadero area and we chose to stay at Bellevue Palma Real or the locals know it as Palma Real. Personally, I felt that the location of our resort was very good because it was a 5 minute walk from the beach and it was close enough to the town so that you can explore it. During our visit in town to buy souvenirs and visit to the bank to exchange for some Pesos, there were a lot of street vendors that are trying to sell you freshly made piña coladas and little souvenirs. There are also a lot of antique cars on the road and carriages that was definitely a sight for us :)

Food

Food was extremely meh at the resort, however, if you are not very picky, the food would still be bearable. Some of the buffet food is rather blend and sometimes over cooked or raw. So you will have to be careful of the food at the resort. There are always a few good items in the buffet and they always change up the food; so at the end of the day, I feel that the food is still okay. My favorite items at the buffet is the grilled fish and the banana and pineapple smoothies. Personally, I think breakfast is the best meal at the buffet and that it's probably the only meal that I have no complaints about.

In terms of the a la carte restaurants, there are 3 of them: Cuban, Italian, and Chinese. You will have to make a reservation for the Cuban and Chinese restaurants and they are usually fully booked so you should try to make your reservation once you get to the resort. We had the Cuban cuisine on the 2n last night we were there and the Chinese on the last night.

The Cuban cuisine was actually decent. The starter, which we got the fried banana and the crackling pork, was not so great. However, we enjoyed the main dish (Hagi and I - chicken; Raymond - land and sea; Daniel - shredded beef). The desserts were similar to what is offered at the buffet, which includes fresh fruits, ice cream, and assorted pastries.

The Chinese restaurant was a huge disappointment, especially since we have read good reviews about it. Firstly, all the food was made with excessive amounts of soy sauce including the rice and the soup. The main dish (sweet and sour pork, spicy fish, and fish stir fry) was very disappointing as it was nothing like Chinese food, not even similar to Mandarin style Chinese food. The desserts, which we got fried banana and house pastries, was excellent. The friend banana was probably the best part of the meal.

La Pizzaria was probably our favorite a la carte at the resort. We ate there almost everyday as no booking was required and it opened from 12:30 to 9pm everyday, giving us ample time to eat there. One downside to the restaurant was the slow service. It would take approximately 1 hour for them to make our pizza even though the place was never really that busy. However, they made very good pizzas and we felt that it was an even healthier option to the snack bar, buffet food and even pizza back home in Toronto. The pizza had a very thin crust and less cheese than we are used to, but it still taste fabulous in comparison to all the other resort food.

We would recommend the Italian restaurant to everyone that goes to the Palma Real! We usually go there for lunch and the check out the buffet for any interesting dishes :) so we end up having 2-3 lunches or dinners.

The snack bar is our 2nd favorite restaurant as it is opened almost 24/7, and closed 3 hours of the day for preparation. They offer hot dogs, burgers, grilled ham and cheese, and fries. My favorite is the grilled h and cheese, while the guys enjoy their burgers. This is always the place for our late night snacks. One downside to the snack bar that the service is sometimes very slow and the coffee machine occasionally runs out of coffee and ends up giving us watered down coffee or hot chocolate. There is also a snack bar at the beach that is opened until 6:30pm everyday.

In term of the drinks, they put a lot of alcohol in your drinks and you should definitely monitor how much alcohol you drink. The piña coladas are very slushy, however, you can get nice piña coladas from the street vendors for 2-3 pesos. You should definitely try everything on the drinks menu! There are several bars at the resort: main lobby, pool, beach, and the second building. There is always a huge line at the main lobby bar so we like to go to the bar in our building (the second building bar). The drink I recommend trying is the coffee with milk and alcohol because they are delicious!

Beach/Pool

I loved the beach and the pool :) I personally think it was the best part of the resort. The beach was extremely pretty and there are always more than enough beach chairs. However, it is sometimes difficult to get a spot in the shade, so you should go early if you want to grab a spot!

Rooms

The rooms were a little older, but it was expected through many of the pictures that we saw via reviews online. The corner room that I got was smaller than Daniel and Hagi's room, which wasn't a big deal for us. There were a lot of mosquitos in our room for some reason and at the end, we suspected that there was some kind of mosquito nest. The mosquitos in the room never bit us probably because we had the AC on. Raymond's biggest problem was probably the showers. It takes around 5-10 minutes for the water to heat up and there is absolutely no water pressure. This can be a problem for those who just want a quick relaxing shower.

 

Jeep Safari Excursion

This was the best excursion for us :) You get to do some snorkeling and see the coral reefs (which gave us many cuts), swimming in the Saturno cave, drive a motorized boat for 40km in a river, horseback riding, and driving a jeep and experiencing the Cuban countryside. Although we had some problems with driving the jeep, it was quickly solved by our helpful tour guide, Reynardo.

Havana Tour

The Havana tour was a big disappointment for us because after the amazing jeep excursion, we had relatively high expectations for this Havana tour. Much of the tour was spent on the bus, which was expected. However, we did not get to explore the city as much as we wanted. The worst part was the fact that whenever we wanted to use a washroom, they would always ask for a tip and the y would even ask to go through our wallets if we said we did not have any change. This was a huge let down f for us as we did not expect this and in Varadero, we were not forced to tip, but was given the option to. However, since it was our first time in Cuba, we felt that it was necessary to explore the capita city and learn a little bit more about the Cuban culture. We would not do this tour a second time and would probably do the catamaran tour next time we visit Cuba.

Service

The maids were extremely nice and helpful and they were very creative in making our beds :) Many of the bartenders were very nice, however, there was always this one that had terrible attitude. Tipping is important not only to get better service but mostly because many of te workers depend on your tip for income. The average wage in Cuba is $19 :(

Advice

1) Bring lots of bug spray (preferably in an aerosol spray can for convenience)
2) Bring an umbrella in case of sudden showers
3) Bring Canadian loonies and toonies to give as tips at the hotel

We would definitely return to Cuba as we loved the experience. Even though we enjoyed Palma Real, I feel that we would probably like to explore other hotels :)